Great Britain
The People's Republic of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the Great Britain is a sovereign state located off the North Western coast of Western Continental Europe. Great Britain shares land borders with Westland and Ireland. The capital, and largest city, is London located in southern England, the official language is English, however co-official languages include Welsh and Irish. Great Britian has a population of 53,354,177 as of 2014. Great Britain is a Socialist Republic which operates within the guidelines of a federal parliamentary republic. The Head of State is the President of Great Britain, while the real political power is vested in the Chancellor of Great Britain , who is the Head of Government. Legislative power rests with the Parliament of Great Britain, which is bicameral in nature, consisting of the Upper House, the National Council of Great Britain , and the Lower House, the House of Representatives of Great Britain. Great Britain is federally divided into five Autonomous Republics, Cornwall, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, each with their own autonomous government. Great Britain also has three Territorial Dependancies, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, of which Great Britian is responsible for the defence and foreign affairs of. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land mass and was the largest empire in history. British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The current ruling party of Great Britain, the Social Workers' Party of Great Britain, also known as the SPGB, is the largest party in both houses of parliament, with the Liberal Party of Great Britain in opposition. Additionally, the Great British Trade Union Coalition have considerable influence and insider status within the government, with regular scheduled meetings by the Chancellor. Great Britain is a Socialist State, and one of only few which advocate Democratic and Liberal values with Socialist ideology abhorring Marxist-Leninist Socialist models. Great Britain however scores average in terms of Democratic Index, and scores average on Freedom of Press Index, but highly on Civil Liberties and Human Rights. Great Britain has very low Income Disparity and less than 1% live under the poverty line. Great Britain is a member of the Council of British States, the Council of Europe and the United Nations. Great Britain is still regarded as a major global power. The People's Republic was formed from the United Kingdom in 1992 following the March Reforms in the wake of end of the Thatcher Regime, whereby Trade Unions and Socialist Groups were in uproar following the quashing of workers' rights by the Conservative Party during this period. Following Margaret Thatcher standing down in 1989, Workers Rights Groups, Trade Unions, Socialist Groups and Socialist Supporters and Sympathisers staged various strikes, sit ins, protests and marches all across the United Kingdom, the most notable being in Central London with the March on Parliament Square, and in Manchester, Liverpool, Hull and Newcastle. These marches and post-Thatcher opinions combined to enforce major societal change in Britain, climaxing in the March Reforms after over half a year of protests and civil unrest. The March Reforms laid out the transition into a Socialist State, with Republican attributes, with the major reshifting of Britain's economic assets into Public Ownership and the abolition of Monarchy and change up of the Political System ousting the so-called 'elitists' from power with major support from the Labour Party. The March Reforms were met with a nationwide Referendum resulting in a resounding Yes vote on the reforms. It was, and is still believed, that the success of Westland was a major motivator for the Revolution in Britain. Great Britain has a Planned Economy, with public ownership of all major industries. Free enterprise is permitted in local capacities and in media and retail. Despite this, the British GDP (PPP) remains at $2 Trillion, ranking 8th in the world. All of Great Britain's economic decisions are made with the express thought of their consequences on workers and the general population. Politics Government The government of Great Britain is a Socialist Multi-Party State operating in the framework of a Federal Parliamentary Republic, divided among five Autonomous Republics, Cornwall, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, below a central government in London. Great Britain's founding document is the March Reforms, which created the Constitution of Great Britain in 1992. The Head of State is President of Great Britain, who has a ceremonial position, taking on the roles of the former Monarch of the United Kingdom, greeting foreign dignitaries, and representing the British people on the world stage. The President is elected independantly every five years. Anyone who is British citizen and above the age of 18 can run for President, however, usually those who run are former MPs, or other Political Figures as a tradition. The Presidential Elections use the First Past the Post System, a majoritarian system guaranteeing a single majoritarian winner. The Head of Government, and leader of the Executive arm of the British government, is the Chancellor of Great Britain. The Chancellor has taken on the same role as the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and is where the main decision-making and political power is vested. The Chancellor is elected for a five year term through the House of Representatives on an Alternative Vote basis, the party leader of the winning majority party is made Chancellor. The Legislative Arm of the British government is regarded as sovereign, where the real political power and authority lies. The bicameral Parliament of Great Britain consists of the Upper House, the National Council and the Lower House, the House of Representatives. Both houses are elected for five year terms in General Elections. All new legislation begins in the House of Representatives, and the National Council acts as an advisory and revising house for legislation and policy activities. Currently, the party with the majority in both houses, is the Socialist Workers Party Great Britian is said to have a dominant party system, in which the Socialist Workers Party is the only party that usually has any chance of forming a government, and has been in power uninterrupted since 1992. The Socialist Workers Party has a mixed ideology of Democratic Socialism, Civic Nationalism and Social Justice. The Socialist Workers Party is one of the largest mass-member organisations in Great Britain alongside the Trade Union Coalition. In addition, other political parties play a major role in the democratic process, representing a capitalist voice against the socialist status quo. The Liberal Party is the current opposition party, while other parties represented in parliament include the Conservative Party and the Communist Party. Foreign Relations Great Britain is a member of the United Nations and serves as one of the permanent UN Security Council members with veto rights. Great Britain is also a member of World Trade Organisation, the Council of Europe, Commonwealth of Nations, League of Democratic Socialist States and the Council of British States. Post revolutionary Britain's foreign policy has been shaped by its close relationship with fellow socialist nation and neighbour, Westland, however some political and cultural differences have caused various disagreements in their relationship, most notably, Great Britain's defence policy and posession of nuclear weapons alongside criticisms of Great Britains democratic process, although despite this, the two countries remain close and are major trading partners. Both are members of the Council of British States, and it is generally acepted that Westland's own socialist revolution in 1923 was a significant influencing factor of Great Britain's Revolution in 1991. Great Britain's exclusion from the European Union, has led to a distance between the country and other European nations it had formerly been close with, such as France, Germany and Spain. Despite this, Great Britain remains a major world power, and a major influence within European politics. Great Britain's place at the head of the Commonwealth of Nations places it in a considerable influential position, with other close allies, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, whom have taken on far more left-wing and socialist oriented policies since the early 1990's. Major disagreements with the United States led to an end of the 'Special Relationship' in 1998, when Great Britain did so to condemn the United States and asked the country to remove all United States military personnell from Great Britain. This caused uproar in the United States, who, according to Great Britain commited several acts of provocation in 1999 when asked to leave. Administrative Divsions Great Britain is a federal state, comprising of Five Autonomous Republics, which are bound together by a central government. Each Autonomous Republic has the same level of administrative power, relating to domestic policy within the republic. Each republic has an additional tier of local administration. Republics are divided into varying numbers of Counties, which only have local administrative responsibilities such as maintaining local infrastructure. Armed Forces Economy Great Britain has a planned economy whereby production and distribution of goods are centralised and directed by the government. Following the March Reforms in 1992, rapid nationalisation of major industries and their transition in public ownership, centralised distribution of output occured, however, free enterprise continued to occur on a small scale during the 1990's, later in 2001 reforms extended the availability of free enterprise and consumer goods rapidly, opening several economic sectors to free enterprise, most notably retail, communications and media. Still ll of Great Britain's economic decisions are made with the express thought of their consequences on workers and the general population. As of 2014, Great Britain's GDP in terms of Purchasing Power Parity was $2 Trillion, ranking it 8th in the world, making it one of the world's economic powers. Great Britain has a GDP (PPP) per capita of $36,794. The British economy has diversified from its large manufacturing base since the 1990's, with the growth of the Service Sector to now employ over 45% of the population, the advent of free enterprise reforms in 2001 helped this diversification process. As of 2014, 45% of the population are employed by the Service sector, followed by 37% by the Industrial sector, 12% in Agriculture and 8% in the Quaternary sector (research and development). All of the major industries are state owned, and are highly productive. Much of the Great Britain's natural resources have been exhausted, with only small deposits of Coal, and Tin in Cornwall, Northern England and Wales that are still actively mined. Today, North Sea Gas is the main supporter of the British natural resources industry employing a large amount of people in North East England. Consumer products and goods are available through many independant free enterprise business across the country. Many of which are independant and local businesses, however there also exist many chain shops, both domestically based or international chains. Free Enterprises are highly common, ranging from small businesses to major service providors. Most, if not all, free enterprise exists within the Service Sector. Demographics Population Statistics Great Britain has a total population of 53,324,177 as of 2014, making it the fifth most populous country in Europe. It ranks 50th in the world in terms of population density at 267/km2. The GDP per capita of Great Britain is $36,794. The average monthly wage in Great Britain is £3,255. Great Britain has a total unemployment rate of 1.1% as of 2014, and less than 1% of the population live below the poverty line. Great Britain has a total fertility rate of 1.98 births per woman, and a crude death rate of 8.8 per 1000. There is a literacy rate of 99%. 41% of the British population have the equivalent of a Bachelors degree, and over 59% have attended University. Of the population of 53 million, 87.1% are of white ethnicity, 7% Asian, 3% Black, 2% Mixed and 0.9% other. The largest foreign born populations of Great Britain are Indian, Pakistani, Bangladesh, German, Irish and Jamaican. Religion Language Ethnic Groups Infrastructure Society Great Britain has a socialist society, which exists with Democratic and Liberal socialist principles. Before the revolution in 1983 British society was divided into Social Classes, the Upper, Middle and Working Classes, however more diversified classes did exist. Following the Revolution, Great Britain began to establish a socialist society, in which everyone was equal in social standing. Methods used for this transition included radical progressive taxation, with a very high tax increase for the highest earners in the country, and reduction in taxes for the lowest earning in the country, gradually closing the gap between rich and poor. Today, British society still has a relatively close focus on social class despite there now only being one classified class in the Social Strcuture, with class conciousness being high. Trade Unions and Trade Unionism had a significant impact during and following the revolution, still to this day. Trade Unions angered by Thatchers radical policies on anti-trade unionism and economic liberalism which bore the burden on the working classes, were one of the main groups involved in the revolution and the organisation of the society of Great Britain. The Trade Union Congress today is the largest mass member group in Great Britain, and has significant political influence. Whilst Great Britain is said to largely Anti-capitalist, society in Great Britain has been said to be remarkably similar to that in a capitalist country to some extent, while goods and services are traded for in a small free market, major industries and the means of production are publicly owned in the best interests of the labour force. Consumerism and other capitalist influences have been notably rising in Great Britain, particularly since 2001 where the role of Free Enterprises in British society were increase significantly.However citizens of Great Britain are still entitled to subsidised food provided by the state, alongside power and electricity, education, health, unemployment benefits, disability benefits, and other welfare characteristics which are all payed for by a radical progressive taxation system. British culture is largely isolated, which has been caused by extensive media isolation, while the media in Great Britain is free, very little material is imported from abroad, and domestically produced media is the most dominant. Modern Music, Television, Radio and Films are almost all domestic productions. This has had a significant impact on British culture, with Globalisation at very low levels, many American traits that have been adopted in the rest of Europe are seldom seen in Great Britain, particularly due to the country's unstable relationship with the United States. Culture Category:People's Republic of Great Britain Category:Falloutfan08's Stuff